


All the Way Down We Go

by i_amthecosmos



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bisexual Liam, Drunken Shenanigans, M/M, Virgin Liam, meet dumb, normal life AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 22:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10292048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_amthecosmos/pseuds/i_amthecosmos
Summary: Liam gets pressed into taking a drunk Louis home.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just something cute I wrote to get my mind off the angstfests I'm working on. Thanks for reading.

Liam had no idea how he got himself into these situations sometimes. It was the curse of always being the sober person, he supposed. But here he was, leaving his mate Zayn’s party with a nearly-passed out party guest, trying to get him back to his flat.

“Hey. Hey.” That was his guest, so Liam turned the radio down in his car to listen to him. “Where am I?” Liam thought of the guy’s name-oh yeah. Louis. 

“You’re safe. I’m taking you home from Zayn’s, my name’s Liam. We hadn’t met before now.” There was a long pause, and Liam figured Louis had fallen back asleep. But then Louis shifted, and raised his head to peer at Liam.

“Yeah. I remember you. I tried bringing you a drink and you turned it down. Rude, if you ask me.” 

Liam glared in Louis’s direction, and missed the street he needed to turn on. “I wasn’t being rude, I really don’t drink. I can’t, really.” He looked around, and decided he could make a u-turn. Nobody was on the roads this late. “I have a medical condition.”

“A medical condition that keeps you from drinking.” Louis didn’t sound like he believed it. “It’s illegal to do a u-turn here, you know.”

“It’s the middle of the night, no one is going to-shit.” There were police lights behind him. Liam pulled over as Louis giggled softly. “You shut up,” Liam said. “I wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t gotten so pissed.”

“Oh well,” Louis said, and seemed to pass out. Liam rolled his window down as the cop came over, wincing at the bright light shone in his eyes.

“Didn’t you see the sign? No U-turns here.” The police lady peered into the car. “Taking a friend home? What about yourself, had a few tonight?” 

“No ma’am,” Liam said, handing his ID over. “My mate asked me to give him a ride home, and I missed the street. I apologize for the turn.”

She took the license and looked at it, then nodded. “I’ll let you off with a warning, but remember, just because it’s late doesn’t mean the sign isn’t still valid. Can’t have that here, someone could be speeding and hit you. Also, buckle up your friend, he’s not got his safety belt on.”

“Yes, thank you.” Liam sighed in relief as she left to go back to her car. Then Liam took hold of Louis’s seat belt, and tried to fit it around him. It took a few tries since Louis kept slouching over, and Liam was startled when the police officer showed back up.

“Need a hand?” She was smiling a bit, taking some amusement from Liam’s bad night.

“Yes please, I’ll unlock the car.” Liam unlocked the car, and the officer moved Louis around until she could buckle him up. Liam saw Louis open an eye, but he said nothing. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem, get yourself and your friend home now.” Then she went to her car for good. Liam got back on the road after that. He heard a snort from Louis, and saw him move out of the corner of his eye.

“You knew damned well I was trying to get the seatbelt on, didn’t you?” Liam said. “Only decided to behave when there was a cop around. You must be hell on your friends.”

“’m very good to my friends, thank you,” Louis said. “It was funny to make you work for it, but didn’t feel like doing the same to the bobby, true.” Louis was quiet for a minute, then he said. “Second on the right, those are my flats. Come on up Liam.”

Liam turned into the driveway. “No, I should get home. It is really late.” It was late, and he was tired. He needed to drop Louis off so he could go home himself and hopefully not run a red light. He parked carefully on the street, not wanting to get stopped by a copper again. He yawned right then, and Louis shook his head.

“Come on up, I won’t bother you, just come sleep on me couch, I owe you for taking me home. Just so you don’t crash on the way.” Liam was going to turn the offer down again, but then Louis put a hand on his arm. “Anyway, I need you to make sure I don’t crack my head on the stairs.”

“Don’t want that, after the trouble you gave me,” Liam said and Louis giggled. They left his car, and Liam kept a hand on Louis all the way up the stairs, until they finally reached his flat. Louis fumbled his key in the lock until he finally popped it open. “Thanks for this,” Liam said as they walked in. 

“Not a problem. I’m getting myself a glass of water and I’m going to bed.” Louis walked to the kitchen, suddenly seeming a lot more sober. Liam frowned, but a wave of exhaustion hit him, and he curled up on Louis’s couch. He was nearly asleep a minute later, waking up momentarily when he felt a blanket laid over him. Then he was out.

…

Liam woke up the next morning to the sounds of the radio and someone singing along. He sat up, rubbing his face, and noticed that someone left a cup of tea for him. He sipped it, putting together where he was. Oh, yeah. “Louis?” He took the tea with him as he headed in the direction of the singing voice.

Liam found Louis just getting out of the shower, with a towel low around his hips. Not-drunk Louis was very pretty in the sunlight, with his hair looking golden in parts. “Hi. I’m done. I was in a while so it might be a few minutes before there’s hot water. Did you like your tea?” Louis moved past him to the bedroom. Liam averted his eyes just before Louis shed the towel. Liam noticed that Louis was well fit, and then tried not to think about it. He’d just figured out his bisexuality, but he didn’t need to think every boy was fair game. That was just rude.

 

“Yes, it was fine. Not how I usually take it.” There wasn’t any sugar, but there was no use adding any now, when it was so cold. “Um, you’re looking well.” Louis didn’t seem to have a bit of a hangover. Liam felt worse, his back hurting from that damn couch. “You must not get hangovers.”

Louis came back out in his pants, a t-shirt in his hand. “I suppose not, I’d had some tea and it fixed me up, right as rain.” Louis put the shirt on. “If you’re not ready for a shower yet, I can fix you another cup. Up to you.” 

“Oh. Okay then.” Louis put his jeans on, and they went to the kitchen. Louis turned on the radio and made tea quietly. “This is really nice of you.”

“Not at all, you brought me home after all.”Liam nodded, but he still thought it was odd, how he was acting now. Shouldn’t Louis have a terrible headache, if not worse? “Did you really feel better this morning because you had tea?”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “It always helps.” The kettle whistled then, and Louis poured their cups, smacking Liam’s hand when he tried to get sugar. “You don’t need that.”

“You put it out on the table,” Liam said, annoyed. “Do you mind if I fix breakfast? I like to have eggs and toast, I’ll need the protein if I go for a run today.”

“A run? On purpose?” Liam glared at Louis until he laughed. “I’m out of bread, but I have eggs. I’d make sure they were still good if I was you, they’ve been there a while. I can’t cook at all.” Louis went to his cupboard and brought out some sugary monstrosity disguised as cereal. “I’ll have some of this. Really, fix yourself some eggs. I don’t mind.” 

“Thank you. You’re a good host.” Louis snorted and started fixing his cereal, but he smiled. Liam got the eggs out, and fixed two of them over-easy, with a hard yolk since he had no toast to soak up the egg. “What are you doing today?” 

“Dunno really. I’ve got the day off, so maybe just watch footie. Or go to the park and play footie. Fancy coming with me?” Liam looked over to see if Louis was joking. Louis raised an eyebrow, as if daring him.

One fact of Liam’s life that Louis wouldn’t know about was, he was a loner. He was used to it, and even going to the party was wildly out of character. He’d only done it because Zayn begged him to. And he’d only met Louis the night before, and Lou had been kind of a drunken knob. 

But, Louis thought as he scooped his eggs to his plate, he was also bored and lonely and single. And he needed to meet more people, that’s what Zayn said. He sat down with his plate, and forgot he was supposed to answer until Louis said “Liam?” In a way that seemed more worried than mocking.

“I suppose so,” he said. “I’m not good at footie, not like I am at running.” He moved over to the table with his eggs, sitting next to Louis.

“You’re good at running, I heard. Zayn said you nearly made the Olympic team.” Louis took a bite of his cereal, looking at him like he was actually interested.

“Well yeah, me and a couple dozen other people,” Liam demurred. It had been disappointing at the time but he’d gotten over it. “I stopped running competitively after that. Nowhere else to go, you know?” 

“You’d accomplished all you could,” Louis said, nodding. “I’m the same, I’m just good enough to play footie in a small local football club. I’ll never be in Manchester, no matter how much I want it. Nothing to be done. It’s good to know your limits sometimes.” 

“I just want to be the best at something,” Liam said quietly. “I hate just working a job I don’t care about. It’s not for me.” He dearly loved his father, but thinking about the factory he worked at filled him with dread. “So I started singing.” 

“Zayn played me your demo,” Louis said, and scooted a little closer. “You had any luck shopping it around, Li?” Louis wasn’t really close enough to him to use a nickname, but Liam let it go.

“Not really,” Liam poked at his eggs. “I’m a nobody from Wolvie, I don’t come from a posh background, I don’t know anybody, and I’m just having a shit time of it.” Liam stared at his plate, wishing Louis hadn’t brought that up. He hated being a failure. He looked up when he felt Louis’s hand on his arm.

“For what it’s worth, it’s a really good demo,” Louis said. “And hey, I can introduce you to Harry. He’s posh, he’s already got one record out. He can help you meet people if that’s what you want.” Louis’s eyes were warm, and his smile made Liam feel better, lighter. “You can do this, I have faith in you.”

“Thanks. But...why did Zayn tell you all this? I’m a pretty good friend of his, but no offense, I never met you until last night.” Liam watched as Louis looked a bit sheepish, even pinking up around the ears. “Wait...you were never pissed at all, were you?”

“Well, um, I might have fancied you a little bit.” Louis said, looking nervous. “I’d seen videos of you having a laugh with Zayn on his social media sites, and I asked him to introduce us. He said he’d never get you to come to a party, but he managed it.”

“He was trying to set me up? He never does that.” Liam had a sip of his tea, considering that. “But why pretend to need a ride? You barely talked to me, except when you came over with that drink.” The only other person who had talked to Liam had been Zayn, and frankly Liam expected that.

“I didn’t talk to you, true. I guess I got scared when you turned down the drink. So at the last moment I pretended to be pissed up and got Zayn to ask you to take me home. I’m sorry. I should have thought of something better.” Louis sipped his tea as Liam tried to think of something to say to this. “You’re probably disgusted with me,” Louis said. “I wouldn’t blame you. You can leave, if you want to.”

“I’m not,” Liam said. “I’m just confused. You could’ve talked to me, probably. I wouldn’t have minded.” He remembered seeing Louis at the party, laughing with his mates and seemingly not even noticing him. 

“Wouldn’t have minded-yeah, that would have made me less nervous.” Liam glared at Louis, who held a hand up. “I’m sorry, but you’re intimidating. You’re built like a brick shithouse, you don’t smile in public unless Zayn is teasing you, you’re hard to talk to.”

“I’m not really,” Liam said. “I’m just rubbish at small talk. If someone starts a conversation with me, I can do okay. I never would have guessed you fancied me, though.” Liam reached over and put his hand on Louis’s, to reassure him. 

“Are you unaware of what you look like? You were the hottest person at that party, including Zayn.” Louis moved his hand so he was holding Liam’s fingers lightly. Liam stared at their hands, not able to look Louis in the face right then.

“I came out just ten months ago,” he said, his voice low. “I still haven’t been with a man. I’m not what I look like. I just go to the gym all the time for something to do.” On one level, Liam knew he looked fit, but how he felt inside was something else. “I’m nothing like you think I am, probably.”

“You’re funny, though,” Louis said. “I’ve seen that in the Vines with Zayn. And I’m not worried about you not being experienced. I mean, it happens all the time, comes with being gay.”

“Or bi,” Liam said then. If Louis had a problem with that, he may as well find out now. 

“Or bi, yes,”Louis answered immediately. “But, I’d still like to go out with you, if you can forgive me for lying last night. Maybe we can just agree to consider it a prank.” Louis squeezed his fingers again and let go. “So, maybe you can have a shower, and we can go to the park?”

“I suppose I should do that first,” Liam said, pushing his plate of barely-eaten eggs aside as he got up. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Louis grinned, looking relieved and gorgeous. Liam gathered his courage, and leaned in for a short kiss before heading to the shower. 

“I’m counting it down,” Louis shouted after him, and Liam laughed. He was still nervous, but this day might go well.


End file.
